Shadow Falls

by Wendy Dranfield

  “So how come Jenny went missing in the same town your old flame works in?” says Nate. “I mean, Shadow Falls is a long way from Santa Barbara.”

  “It was an unhappy coincidence, Mr. Monroe,” Anna says. “Coincidences do happen, no matter how much you’d like to believe they don’t.”

  Morgan slowly exhales. “We hadn’t spoken since we left college, so your little theory about us having an affair is way off the mark.”

  Madison can tell he’s hiding something, but she can’t figure out what.

  Eighty

  Anna knows what she has to do in order to get rid of this well-intentioned pair of strangers. She doesn’t have any animosity toward them; she doesn’t have the energy for that. The last twelve months has taken so much out of her that she just can’t go on pretending any longer. They’re too persistent.

  Esme asked them to look for Jennifer, and they’re trying to do that even when they know they won’t be paid for it. She’s realizing they won’t give up until they find her, and she can help with that. Then she can move on. She can have her baby and forget any of this ever happened.

  She thinks of Grant, and that’s where her anger lies. He should be with her right now, dealing with this stress and protecting her, but he’s taken the easy way out. She assumes he’s killed himself. He’s left her to deal with this alone.

  She looks up at Ted. He’s always loved her. That’s why it was him she turned to when they needed help; she knew he’d do anything she asked. Part of her wonders if that’s why she stayed in touch with him all these years. Just in case things didn’t work out with Grant and she needed a backup. It’s not like she’s using him; she has genuine affection for him, just not the kind he wants from her.

  She looks at Madison. “I’m going to be completely honest with you now.”

  Ted groans above her. “Anna, seriously, stop!”

  She shakes her head slowly and then looks at her bed covers. “I know where Jennifer is.”

  Eighty-One

  Madison moves closer to the bed, eager to hear what Anna has to say. If it’s what she’s expecting, she has to try to hide her contempt for this woman.

  “Tell us everything.” Part of her only wants to ask whether Jenny’s alive or not, because she doesn’t want to be interviewed by the police as a witness, and pulled further into this mess. She just wants to find Jenny and then leave. But professional curiosity and concern for the missing girl keep her here.

  Morgan is pale and sweaty. He’s stepped back, away from Anna. It’s obvious that he’s implicated in this somehow.

  Anna looks down at her hands and speaks quietly. “When Grant found that padlock in Jennifer’s room, it made the outcome inevitable. He showed me and I just about broke down. I couldn’t handle it.”

  “Where was Jenny at this time?” Madison asks.

  “She was at school. This was mid morning. Grant had taken the day off work because we’d planned to look for it. His attitude changed from the moment he found it; he shut down. He finally realized this young girl had manipulated him brilliantly, and that was a painful loss for him because he’d loved her more than I had. They’d bonded quickly, mainly because Jenny had made it happen that way. I believe that girl knew from the minute she met us that she would play us off against each other, because she wanted me out. She wanted Grant all to herself. You have to understand; she was clever.”

  Madison is suddenly overwhelmed with sadness. Anna just referred to Jenny in the past tense. She tries not to react to learning that Jennifer Lucas is undoubtedly dead and probably has been all along.

  “I honestly believe she had a psychopathic personality. I researched her personality traits and learned she probably suffered with RAD—reactive attachment disorder. Have you heard of it?”

  Madison nods. She doesn’t give details, but she’s come across it before whilst on the job. If this were her investigation, she’d want a professional to confirm that Jenny suffered from the condition. She wouldn’t take the mother’s word for it.

  Anna describes in detail the symptoms and causes of RAD, and assuming she’s telling the truth, Madison can understand the hell she was put through. It’s still no excuse to harm a child, though.

  “So the two of you plotted to kill her?” asks Nate when she’s finished.

  Madison knows that if they did, that’s premeditated murder.

  “Anna, you need a lawyer.” Morgan steps in. “I’m not just saying that as your friend, but as a cop.”

  “No, Ted.” She’s defiant. “I want them to know. I want a fresh start for my baby.” She looks back at Nate. “Grant decided to kill her. Did I go along with it? Yes, because I couldn’t see an alternative. I tried telling staff at CPS about my doubts, but they didn’t want to hear it. I told my therapist, but she thought I was the one with the problem, not Jennifer. It had taken so much just to get Grant to believe me! I had to secretly film Jennifer hurting me. When he saw the footage, he finally realized I was telling the truth.”

  “You could have shown CPS that video,” says Nate.

  Anna shakes her head and touches her bump. “No. No, Mr. Monroe. You have to understand: she killed our children. When I found out I was pregnant with this one, I almost terminated it because I just knew the baby would be at risk too. Once we found the padlock and knew for sure she’d killed Susie and Thomas, we realized we couldn’t risk her killing our baby too.” Tears start running down her face. “CPS work so slowly that even if they did finally agree to take her off us, they might have made us wait months or even years until they could place her somewhere else. She would’ve found out about the baby! Her bedroom would’ve been next to the nursery.”

  She looks at Madison like she’s pleading with her to understand. “This was someone who deliberately made our lives a misery. Grant was so angry there was no reasoning with him. He was adamant that the only way not to inflict Jennifer on another family was to end her life. He said he’d make it quick and painless so she wouldn’t know what was happening. Deep down I knew he wanted it over with fast because he felt so stupid for loving someone like that. He felt like he’d already lost another child because the girl he’d loved didn’t really exist.”

  Morgan turns away and leans against the wall, covering his face.

  Madison is struggling to remain composed. She wants to arrest Anna and Grant immediately, but of course she has no power over this fucked-up situation. Plus, there’s no evidence. She doesn’t think Anna would repeat this in a police interview.

  “What about Esme?” she asks. “Did she know what you were plotting? Or did she find out afterwards and threaten to tell us? Because I wouldn’t put it past either of you to kill her too.”

  Anna’s face flickers with shock, then contempt. “We would never have hurt Esme. She died of a broken heart.” A tear runs down her face. “She didn’t know anything. That’s why she fought so hard to find Jennifer. We asked her not to mention Susie and Thomas to you. She didn’t understand, of course, but we explained it might take your focus off finding Jennifer because you’d assume we’d killed all three children. For what it’s worth, that’s my biggest regret over this terrible affair: that Esme suffered so much. But she would have suffered more if she was still alive to hear what Grant did.”

  “You mean what you both did,” says Madison.

  Anna lets the dig slide. “We knew we couldn’t do it at home because the forensics would’ve incriminated us, so Grant came up with the idea of sending her to summer camp. That way he could sneak in at night, grab her and bury her out in the forest.”

  Madison covers her eyes with her hands and leans forward. She has to swallow her emotions and try to remain professional.

  “I can almost understand your hatred for the girl,” says Nate, “but you had other ways out. You didn’t need to kill her.”

  Madison nods in agreement. She looks up. “Why use Camp Fearless? Why Shadow Falls?”

  Morgan stays quiet.

  “That was just random. Gran
t said we needed somewhere that didn’t pay much attention to security, so he looked at the lower-priced camps. I didn’t know Ted lived near here until he called to tell us of Jennifer’s disappearance.” Anna lowers her eyes.

  Madison wonders if she’s telling the truth. Could it really have been a coincidence? “So what did Grant do to her?” she asks, not wanting to know the answer.

  Anna shakes her head. “I have no idea how he did it. I didn’t come up here with him; I stayed at home. I couldn’t ever hurt a child, not even that one. Grant took care of it.”

  Nate struggles to remain composed as he asks, “Where is Jenny’s body?”

  Anna rubs her eyes, but there are no tears. “In the Wildwood National Forest. Grant said he’d pushed her off a rock face into a large waterfall about ten miles from Camp Fearless.” She looks at him with terror in her eyes. “Please don’t bring her body back to me, Mr. Monroe. I couldn’t bear it.” She finally breaks down.

  Madison looks away. She can’t bring herself to comfort the woman.

  Eighty-Two

  Morgan approaches Nate. The stress is showing on his face. “We need to talk.”

  Nate follows him out into the corridor. There are nurses everywhere so he keeps his voice low. “Are you going to call this in, or should I?”

  Morgan’s eyes look panicked. “Listen, we don’t know anything for sure until we find her body. I’m going to drive up there, as I know the area better than you, but I’d like you both to come with me.”

  Nate is surprised. “Why? So we don’t call your superiors and tell them how you’re somehow involved in all this? I’m betting Anna confided in you at some point and that’s why you weren’t doing much detective work.”

  Ted leans back and raises his hands. “Whoa! I didn’t know any of that. She never told me. When I had to phone the parents of the missing girl, I had no idea it was going to be Anna who answered until I heard her voice. I’d been given Grant’s name as Jenny’s contact, and thought it was just a coincidence that I knew a Grant Lucas.”

  “So why were you so keen on her not talking to us?”

  “Because she’s a friend, asshole, and I protect my friends. But if I had known her husband killed their daughter, I would’ve arrested him myself.” He runs his hands through his hair. “I just wanted her to seek legal counsel so she didn’t get tricked into admitting something she didn’t mean. I mean, come on; she’s exhausted, pregnant and emotional. It’s easy to get confused in that state. She probably doesn’t even know what she’s saying.”

  Nate thinks about it, but he can tell Morgan clearly has feelings for her. “So, if we find Jenny’s body out there, then what?”

  “I’ll excuse myself from the case and get a different detective from my department to arrest Anna. Then I’ll search for the piece of shit she married. I know the guy and I’m guessing he’s on the run. That means she’ll take all the heat. The media are going to have a field day with this, and with the fact that I know her. I just want to try to control what I can to minimize everyone’s suffering. You’ve got to understand that. We can’t risk anything happening to that baby, because I genuinely don’t think she’d survive losing a fourth child.”

  Nate is surprised when Morgan’s eyes well up. The guy is still in love with her. He feels for him, but he’s still wary. “Fine, I’ll come with you, but Madison will stay here. Anna shouldn’t be left alone in case Grant comes to silence her.” He’s about to walk back into the room when he adds, “Brody’s outside, waiting by my car.”

  “No way. That dog’s not coming with us.”

  “He’s a trained cadaver dog; he’s exactly what we need.”

  Morgan doesn’t look so sure. “He’s dangerous.”

  “I’ll take care of him. You get us to the spot Anna described, and if Jenny’s there, Brody will find her. If you’d rather go alone, I’ll call your superiors right now.”

  He shakes his head. “Fine.”

  Nate walks back into Anna’s room to tell Madison where he’s going. He notices that Anna has taken her cardigan off. Her arm is scabbed over in places from where Brody bit her, but she’s scratching her other arm, which has pink scars of its own.

  “What’s happening?” asks Madison, standing up.

  He leads her into the corner of the room and lowers his voice. “We’re taking Brody to go and find Jenny’s body. If Anna’s telling the truth, we can get the police out there when we locate her. I need you to stay here. Keep your phone charged, because I’ll check in with you regularly by text, though I’m guessing the cell coverage is sporadic in the forest. If you don’t hear from me for two hours straight, call the police and tell them everything.”

  She nods. “Why don’t you just call the police now?”

  He takes a deep breath. “Because I think there’s more to this story than we’ve been told and I’m hoping to get more out of Morgan on the drive. If we let him go straight to his boss about this, he’s going to twist it to protect Anna and blame everything on Grant. I also want to find out just how involved he was.”

  “How come you get to go? Why can’t I? I’m way more qualified than you to handle the situation.”

  Nate sighs. He could do without this right now, and he doesn’t need her reminding him he’s probably out of his depth. “You’re not a cop now, Madison. You’re working for me and I need you to do what I say. If you don’t think you can take orders, what we have won’t work. Watching Anna is just as important as finding the girl. For all we know, Grant will turn up any minute and we can get both of them arrested at once. But not if you’re not here. Okay?”

  She nods reluctantly; he can tell she’s unhappy.

  “Are you armed?” she asks.

  He’s touched at her concern. He smiles. “I’ve got Brody.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Brody could be taking a crap while you get shot. Here.” She discreetly pulls out her weapon. “Take this.”

  He pushes it away. The last thing he needs is Morgan accusing him of trying to shoot an officer; on top of that, the gun isn’t registered to him and he doubts it’s registered to Madison, so he could be up for a charge right there. He won’t risk going back inside.

  “Nate? You’re going into a forest with a man who has a stake in how all this turns out. Take the goddam gun.”

  He shakes his head. He knows he needs to be careful around Morgan, but he’d rather be dead than spend another day in prison. “Thanks, but no.” He touches her hand. “I’m doing this my way.”

  She stuffs the gun back in her waistband, under her shirt. “Well, I guess it was nice knowing you.” She looks at the clock above Anna’s bed and sighs. “If I don’t hear from you regularly, I’m calling the police.”

  He nods and turns to the door, where Morgan is pacing back and forth. “Let’s go.”

  Eighty-Three

  Madison’s eyelids are growing heavy. She’s struggling to stay awake, and when she looks over at the bed, it’s clear that Anna is already asleep. She stands up and stretches her back. She’s heard some screwed-up things in her time, both as a cop and as an inmate, but what Anna told them today might just top it all. She’ll never understand how anyone could kill a child, especially one who was so dependent on them to protect her.

  Even though she feels sick, her stomach’s growling with hunger, so she leaves the room to head to the cafeteria in search of food. On the way, her phone buzzes with a text.

  Still driving. Hitting some dense forest now so this might be the last contact for a while. Brody despises Morgan, so at least it’s two against one.

  She smiles. She’s never been a dog person but Brody is growing on her. He’s so eager to please and he’s clearly besotted with Nate. She’s not surprised. Nate’s a special guy and she feels lucky to have met him. Once he’s helped her get to the bottom of who ruined her life, she wants to help him find Father Connor. She’d like to get him some closure so he can move on and start living without thoughts of revenge holding him back.

  A
s she sits in the half-empty cafeteria finishing off a stale cold chicken salad, her phone buzzes again. This time it’s Stephanie.

  Mike checked in on me but there’s no need. I’m fine. Thanks for your concern. xx

  Madison drops her plastic fork. Stephanie has never in her life added kisses to the end of a text. She always said they were passive-aggressive when other people used them. Could she have changed since they last saw each other? Madison doubts it. Her heart starts beating a little harder. She needs to call Steph, to hear her voice for herself.

  As the phone rings, she moves away from anyone who can overhear her. There’s no answer, so she immediately tries again. With each ring her dread builds, but she doesn’t know why. Maybe Steph’s out for the night and isn’t taking calls. She tries the home number, which she knows off by heart since Stephanie still lives in the house they shared.

  No reply.

  She takes a deep breath. There’s nothing she can do from here except reply to the text and wait for Steph to call back.

  Call me asap.

  If she hasn’t heard anything by morning, she’ll speak to Mike.

  She ditches the last of the salad in the trash and heads to the restroom. It smells bad in here, of illness and medicine. She splashes water on her face and glances in the mirror. She looks tired and greasy; her forehead is shining with sweat. The air is so stale in this hospital. She’d love to go back to the guest house now and take another long, hot bath followed by eight hours’ sleep.

  She jumps when a nurse walks in and enters a stall.

  She pulls her sleeves up to wash her hands, and is reminded of the scars she saw on Anna’s other arm; the arm Brody didn’t attack. Brody was pretty fired up when he saw Anna arrive at the summer camp. Could he have recognized her?